Friday 17 April 2015

Bobby Curtola born 17 April 1943


Robert Allen "Bobby" Curtola, CM (April 17, 1943 – June 4, 2016) was an early Canadian rock and roll singer and teen idol.

 Bobby Curtola began singing at high school dances and at age 15 formed a rock band called Bobby and the Bobcats. His skills attracted the attention of song writing brothers Basil and Dyer Hurdon who owned the record label Tartan. They wrote the song “Hand in Hand with You” which they recorded with Curtola in 1959/60. Its moderate success encouraged them to write more songs for Curtola and they became his managers, carefully arranging his record releases and club dates, and forming his fan club.


                               

In 1962, he released “Fortune Teller” and its double A-side “Johnny Take Your Time” which became his biggest hit, selling two million copies and charting in the U.S.. He scored a second 
international hit with “Aladdin”. This big break erupted into a string of hits during the fiercely competitive British Invasion years that knocked most Canadian and American singers off the charts. 

Curtola was Canada’s only teen-idol in the early 60s and specialized in what were dubbed “rock-a-ballads”. His voice was described as a “silvery tenor” with a “soft-sweet quality”. In June of l964, Bobby was definitely in the right place at the right time. He became the first pop singer to record a jingle that

sounded like a "Top 40 Hit Single," the song was "Things Go Better with Coke." He signed an exclusive contract with Coca-Cola to be their #1 Spokesman. Bobby, inspired by Coke and thinking of a spin off to "Things Go Better with Coke," co-wrote "The Real Thing" which he used a version of for the commercial "Coke's The Real Thing." 

In 1966 he won a RPM Gold Leaf Award for becoming the first Canadian to have an album go gold.  

In 1967, Bobby toured Canada and the following year switched to a nightclub career. By this time, he had released 46 singles, 32 of which had made the Top Ten! He made a guest appearance on the Bob Hope Show.
 
In the early 1970s, Curtola hosted a CTV musical series entitled, Shake, Rock and Roll. After 1972, he spent part of the year performing in Las Vegas, opening for Louis Armstrong. Like Paul Anka, Las Vegas offered him a multimillion dollar contract.

He recorded occasionally in the 80s. In an attempt at updating his image, he briefly adopted the billing Boby Curtola and
released one album under this name before reverting to his original spelling. In the 90s there was an “oldies” revival and RCA offered him a 5-album deal. He toured Canada and Malaysia in 1998 and Europe in 2001.
Unlike Paul Anka who left us and became a naturalized U.S. citizen, Bobby Curtola stayed in Canada, proving that it was possible to succeed in pop music and remain at home. This paved the way for later Canadian pop musicians.  
 
In 1998, in recognition of his long service to the Canadian music industry as well as his humanitarian work around the world, he was made a member of the Order of Canada. His pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.


Besides his musical work, Bobby was also a business entrepreneur, marketing a successful brand of Caesar cocktail. In 2011, Curtola received a star on the Italian Walk of Fame in Toronto, Canada. He was married with two sons, and currently lives in Edmonton. During his later years he was still performing across Canada, Las Vegas and even the Princess Cruise Lines.

Curtola's partner, Karyn Rochford, died in a car accident in Nova Scotia on December 15, 2015. Curtola had been living in Port Mouton, Nova Scotia, but moved to Edmonton, Alberta in early 2016 after Rochford's death. He died on June 4, 2016, at his home aged 73. 
(Info edited from Canadian Music Blog & Wikipedia)
 


This interview was done by Brad Kelly of Shaw TV, just before Bobby's Charity show at the Arden Theatre in St. Albert, Alberta on September 3, 2010. There is also some stock footage from some previous shows that Bobby has done.

16 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Meet Bobby Curtola” go here:

http://www1.zippyshare.com/v/58266179/file.html

(a big thank you to Jake @ Jukebox City for link)

01 Fortune Teller
02 Three Rows Over
03 Aladdin
04 Hand In Hand With You
05 Hitch-Hiker
06 Makin' Love
07 I Cry And Cry
08 I'll Never Be Alone Again
09 Destination Love
10 Little Girl Blue
11 Walkin' With My Angel
12 Footsteps
13 Pretty Blue Eyes
14 Sandy
15 Corrine Corrina
16 Donna
17 Wildwood Days
18 Mean Woman Blues
19 You Must Belong To Me
20 I'd Do Anything For You
21 You're Not A Goody Goody
22 Gypsy Heart
23 Ever Near You
24 Hi-Tone
25 How'm I Gonna Tell You
26 Sorry
27 The Beginning Of The End
28 Don't Say You Love Me
29 As Long As I'm Sure Of You
30 Midnight
31 Many Moons Ago
32 Indian Giver
33 Johnny Take Your Time

Pete Cost said...

The link is dead :(
Can you re-upload, please? Thanks so much!

boppinbob said...

Hello Pete, I just cannot find this file. Plus not being on my data base probably means I never saved it from Jake or it's on a thumb drive somewhere up in the attic! Unfortunately Jake @ Jukebox City has been very ill and has stopped posting, so I cannot ask for a re-up.
I have however got a 19 track CD of Bobby's titled "Bobby Curtola - Hitchhiker & Other Hits" if any good.

Pete Cost said...

Hitchhiker would be great!
Thanks so much for all your trouble, Bob!

boppinbob said...

Hello Pete, I’ll keep a look out for the other compilation but chances are slim, unless some other kind music lover can share their copy.

So in the meantime, for “Bobby Curtola – Hitchhiker & Other Hits” (2003 Stardust)” go here:

https://www.upload.ee/files/14226838/Bobby_Curtola_-_HitchHiker.rar.html

1 Don't You Sweetheart Me 2:21
2 I'll Never Be Alone Again 2:14
3 Hitchhiker 2:00
4 Fortune Teller 2:46
5 Johnny Take Your Time 2:21
6 You Must Belong To Me 2:16
7 I Cry And Cry 2:07
8 Aladdin 2:07
9 My Christmas Tree 2:06
10 Destination Love 1:45
11 Gypsy Heart 2:02
12 Indian Giver 2:36
13 Hand In Hand With You 2:27
14 Three Rows Over 2:26
15 Move Over 2:15
16 Little Girl Blue 2:31
17 You're Not A Goody Goody 1:52
18 As Long As I'm Sure Of You 2:25
19 Makin' Love 2:10

Pete Cost said...

Thanks millions!!!!

a3kp said...

Ivve got some more but dont know how to post it.

boppinbob said...

Hi a3kp, If you want to transfer your CD's or vinyl into a digital format then you'll need to seek proper tutorials (try YouTube). It would take far too long to explain it here. But posting your CD's are easy. Make sure they are compressed by using winRAR (available free on web) then use a free file host. There are so many to use. The most popular one to use is KrakenFiles.com. You can use them anonymously, but I prefer to register as a free user so that you can keep tabs on your files. Just follow the online instructions and BINGO. Once you've uploaded your file you will be given a link so that others can download it.

a3kp said...

https://www.mediafire.com/file/vdm7vtrjwv1tmbd/Bobby_Curtola_-_12_Golden_Hits__%2528LP-1967%2529__x.zip/file

https://www.mediafire.com/file/y6xzyrkgfsmqdnf/Bobby_Curtola_-_Hitch_Hiker__%2528LP-1961%2529__x.zip/file

https://www.mediafire.com/file/g2snapxtnk1sfcq/Bobby_Curtola_-_Magic_Moments__%2528LP-1966%2529__x.zip/file

https://www.mediafire.com/file/sn6i7thfcxyxu83/Bobby_Curtola_-_Mr.Personality__%2528LP-1962%2529__x.zip/file

a3kp said...

If you using the GOM-Player you get the album-art fullscreen by playing the album

boppinbob said...

Thanks for the zip files at such short notice. Regards, Bob

a3kp said...

Here's the other Bobby's.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/q7182jak024hzgr/Bobby_Curtola_-_15_Greatest_Hits__%2528CD-1991%2529__x.zip/file

https://www.mediafire.com/file/lkdfecukc5xgdpr/Bobby_Curtola_-_21_Great_Hits__%2528CD-1998%2529__x.zip/file

https://www.mediafire.com/file/bdipe6rk5nk7bxc/Bobby_Curtola_-_Overige.zip/file

Have fun.

boppinbob said...

Hello a3kp, Thanks for your generous contribution of Curtola albums.
Regards, Bob.

a3kp said...

Now i Still looking for 2 songs of the Truly Yours album named:
song 5 : Acres of heartaches
and song 9: Why didn't you tell me.
If you have those 2 songs please will you post them here?

boppinbob said...

Hello a3kp, My good forum friend Uncle Gil has come up trumps with your songs. You’ll find both of them on this LP .

Bobby Curtola – Truly Yours (1963 Tartan)

https://www.upload.ee/files/14602428/Bobby_Curtola_-_Truly_Yours.rar.html

1. Indian Giver 2:38
2. Destination Love 2:46
3. Hi-Tone 2:20
4. Gypsy Heart 1:58
5. Acres Of Heartaches 2:15
6. The Beginning Of The End 2:00
7. They Say 2:15
8. Why Didn't You Tell Me 2:33
9. Sorry 2:16
10. Don't Say You Love Me 2:02
11. Hand In Hand With You 2:27

a3kp said...

First, thanks Gil from me and thank you for post them.
I'm very happy with them.
Thank,thanks,thanks you both.
Have a nice weekend Bob.